


room for you

by shesthesmoke



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Biphobia, Bisexual Kyle Valenti, Classism, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Planet 7, but i can sympathize with michael and kyle's plights, canon typical alcohol (mis)use, forlex is mentioned, forrest is mentioned, kyle valenti deserves ppl cancelling their plans for him, michael being uncharacteristically mature, michael guerin is a good friend, michael the designated driver, putting off big dramatic confessions until you're sober, they don't really get together tho, this is a pro-forrest and forlex household, unrequited kylex, watching new girl on netflix which technically shouldn't be possible bc vlamis was in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesthesmoke/pseuds/shesthesmoke
Summary: michael and kyle commiserate.or: alex isn’t here, but it’s still about him.or: they’re not in love, but they’ll make do.(pls read the notes at the beginning)
Relationships: Michael Guerin & Kyle Valenti, Michael Guerin/Kyle Valenti
Comments: 19
Kudos: 34





	room for you

**Author's Note:**

> TW: alcohol (most of this goes down in a bar) and a biphobic/classist microagression (starts with "the bartender shrugs" and ends with "to kyle's table")  
> the rest of this note is background/my thought process so you can skip it if you want
> 
> okay so first off, there's this band i really like called sub-radio, and they have this song called room for you, which either describes the storyline of malex or kylex depending on how you interpret the song. and i couldn't pick, and alex is with forrest rn anyway, so it's michael and kyle now. pls check out the song, it's a good one.
> 
> second, a text post that crossed my tumblr dash while i was writing this fic made me restructure it in a couple of parts. OP pointed out the fairly fucked up way that fic writers tend to portray alcohol use, especially with LGBT characters. it is not romantic or sweet to have a character get drunk because they are sad, and alcohol should not be used as a vehicle for grand romantic confessions. personally i think the way that alcohol use is portrayed in RNM canon is pretty fucked up too. i was kind of pissed in 2x10 when it was like "haha kyle is day-drinking through the alien shenanigans" without properly acknowledging his underlying state of mind or the very heavy circumstances that led him there, so this is my attempt to rectify that. i can't tell anyone else what to write and what not to write, and there aren't any hard and fast rules, but i think it's worth it to try and be more intentional with how we write about mental heath issues.

Michael didn’t think he’d ever let his soulmate’s boyfriend drag him to a pub quiz at a gay bar because he and his friends needed an extra player on their team and Michael’s soulmate didn’t feel like it. He definitely didn’t think he’d find himself at that same gay bar on a different night completely of his own accord with said soulmate’s boyfriend nowhere in sight and the next pub quiz weeks away. The Pony will always have his heart, even after breaking up with Maria, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t lonely and sometimes it’s nice to have options. 

He  _ absolutely _ didn’t think he’d see Kyle Valenti at a table in the back by himself. 

He doesn’t notice that he’s looking until the bartender notices him looking. “You here about Isobel? Because he’s not the one she hooked up with.”

He turns around to look at the bartender, whose blonde hair and bold eye makeup he recognizes from Isobel’s stories. “Ew, what? No, she’s my sister.”

The bartender shrugs. “You smell like her. Figured it was a shared cologne type of situation. And besides, this is Roswell, we’re pretty used to guys like you coming in looking for the bitch who led his sweet baby sister astray.”

It takes Michael a second to process. She doesn’t think he belongs here, and he can’t tell if it’s because he looks like he’s straight or because he looks like he lives in a trailer. He could tell her he’s bi, but he doesn’t owe her an explanation, and if the way she’s looking at him is because of the second thing, it won’t help. “I’ll have a beer,” he says, and then he heads over to Kyle’s table. 

Kyle looks up at Michael and something behind Michael’s sternum twists. This is the guy who made Alex’s life far more difficult than it already was just for shits and giggles, and then put everything on the line to protect Michael’s family again and again, and now he’s in Planet 7 looking up at Michael like his life is in Michael’s hands. His glass is empty, and it’s probably safe to assume that it’s been emptied more than once tonight.

Michael sits down. “What are you doing here?” he asks. 

Kyle shrugs, probably trying to come off as laid-back, but there’s something heavy about the way he moves his shoulders. Michael doesn’t buy it. “Fine,” Kyle relents, “same as you.” There’s an easy, obvious interpretation of what Kyle just said. They’ve both just been dumped by their respective girlfriends, after all. And yet, the way Kyle is holding his gaze points to that easy, obvious interpretation not being the right one. 

Suddenly, something clicks. “Alex?” 

Kyle takes a labored breath in and nods. 

Michael doesn’t know what to do with all the implications of that. He doesn’t know what to do full stop. Saying “shit, buddy,” and then letting a nervous giggle out probably isn’t great but it’s the first thing that happens. He should try again. “How long?”

“Since forever, probably, but I didn’t know in high school, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Kyle sighs. “It must have been… after Liz came back, the day I found out my dad had left him the hunting cabin. I’d been looking into Rosa’s death, everything I thought I knew was crashing down around me, and I drove out to investigate, and suddenly… he was there. He wasn’t happy to see me, which I totally deserved. But I was so convinced that my dad had done something terrible, taken advantage of someone who needed help, and he didn’t believe it for a second. He has faith in people, still. And then while I was falling apart, I just kept thinking… after all of that, if Alex could still be Alex, then maybe the world wasn’t ending.”

“That’s a lot of hope to pin on one person,” Michael points out. 

Kyle nods in agreement. “Yeah, maybe it is. Your turn.”

“What?”

“I just spilled my guts to you,” Kyle reminds him as if he’s forgotten. “Your turn.”

Michael shrugs. Maybe it is his turn. “We kept running away from each other because he couldn’t fix me. I don’t know why it took me that long to realize that wasn’t his job, but it is what it is. I ran away again the night of the Open Mic, the night he got with Forrest.”

“Forrest isn’t a bad dude,” Kyle remarks.

“No, that’s the thing,” Michael agrees, “he’s not. That’s what Alex deserves, someone who can look at him like that while he’s on stage pouring his heart out without their own shit getting in the way. Now that he’s found that, I don’t think I get to be upset about it.”

“Feel what you feel,” Kyle instructs. “But honestly, I don’t think you have that much to worry about. If Alex decides he doesn’t want a big white wedding and nine kids with Forrest, it’ll be because he wants a big white wedding and nine kids with  _ you _ . You’ll get there when you get there.”

“And what about you?” Michael asks. 

“What  _ about  _ me?” Kyle echoes. 

“You just told me you’ve been in love with him as long as I have, if not longer. You gonna be alright if we have a big white wedding?” Michael asks. Suddenly, Kyle being okay is an important part of this equation. 

Kyle shrugs. “Totally. I’ll meet a nice girl, settle down…”

“Girl?” Michael repeats. “So it’s just Alex?”

Kyle looks so tired. “Is it just Alex for you?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to pretend that it is,” Michael answers with a wry smile, “but no. That’s not how it works.”

“So, you’re…”

“Bisexual,” Michael supplies. “I’m bisexual.”

Kyle nods as if he’s just been asked a question. “Cool, that’s… that’s cool.” He looks like something is trying to fight its way out from deep inside him. “Me too, I think,” he adds quietly.

That’s definitely the first time he’s ever said that out loud. Michael smiles. They should celebrate the occasion. “Dance with me, Valenti.” Michael’s still working on his celebratory tone. Kyle is frozen. Michael was sort of kidding, but now he’s serious: Kyle needs to dance with him. “Come on. It’s good for you.”

Kyle finally gets up. “Fine, but only because I like the song.”

They dance. They don’t get super close, it’s not rife with sexual tension, it’s just nice. Kyle can move once he stops watching himself, and eventually Michael stops watching himself too. He doesn’t even mind that no one ever brought his beer. Then the song ends, and a slower one starts, and they get closer. Kyle’s wrists are draped over his shoulders, and his hands are on Kyle’s lower back, and now they’re leaning in so that their foreheads are almost touching. And then Kyle is leaning in more.

Kyle wants to kiss him. It’d probably be nice, actually, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. Kyle is drunk. Michael pulls back a little bit. “I can’t hook up with any more of Alex’s friends.” 

Kyle nods like he understands and tries to laugh, but it gets caught in the back of his throat. “Come home with me?”

“What did I just say, Valenti?” Michael chuckles.

Kyle rolls his eyes. “Not like that. To hang out, I mean.”

Michael pretends that that's a less ridiculous idea than it is and considers it for a second. There are worse things he could do. He’s trying to be a better person, and Kyle does need a ride home. “Sure, whatever.”

They go out to Michael’s truck and get in. Michael pauses for a second before starting it up and looks over at Kyle. “You alright, Valenti?”

Kyle looks confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“This is what’d I’d expect from, well… me,” Michael explained. “And you said it yourself, your life kind of fell apart last year. From the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like anything has gotten any more stable. And then you’ve been holding this thing inside for who knows how long. That’s a lot to carry.”

Michael is definitely making him uncomfortable. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” Kyle huffs. 

“No one wants to talk about it,” Michael replies, “but you take care of a lot of people, Kyle. Someone’s gotta take care of you.”

Kyle takes that in and gets quiet. The drive to his place is uneventful, other than how it’s kind of hard to find parking for a pickup truck within a reasonable distance of Kyle’s place in the middle of town. They find it eventually, and then they go inside. “You have a bathroom, dude?” Michael asks once he’s inside. Kyle points it out to him. When he comes back, he finds Kyle lying on his back on the couch, holding his phone in front of his face at an odd angle. “You trying to take a selfie?”

“No,” Kyle says, shaking his head, “I wanna call Alex.”

“What? Why?”

“I wanna tell him,” Kyle answers like it’s a well thought out plan. Instead of taking the time to figure out a gentle way to explain to Kyle that that’s a terrible idea, he crosses the room and snatches the phone from Kyle’s hands. “Hey!”

“You can have this back in the morning,” Michael tells him, placing the phone on top of the fridge, “and if you still wanna tell him then, I won’t stop you.”

Kyle huffs and drags Michael back to the couch. “Whatever, let’s watch something.” 

Michael nods dutifully and pulls up Netflix on Kyle’s TV. Before he even has anything selected, he feels Kyle laying his head on his shoulder. “You still with me, buddy?” He feels Kyle nod. Good enough. He hits play on some stupid sitcom with a lead actress who looks like Katy Perry. It’s actually hilarious, but by the eighth or ninth episode he feels Kyle starting to lean forward. “Alright, time for bed,” he says, lightly shaking Kyle. “Come on, you can do it, up you go.” Kyle rises to his feet slowly and leans on Michael for support. Michael could use his powers, but when he thinks of it he’s already almost there and the contact is probably good for him in some way or another. Also, Kyle isn’t that big. 

When they get to Kyle’s room, Kyle gives him a look.

“I’m not Isobel,” Michael reminds him gently, “I can’t read your mind.”

“I ruined your night,” Kyle states plainly.

Michael shakes his head. “No, you didn’t. I wasn’t going to do anything important tonight. And even if I was… you deserve to have someone cancel their plans for you every once in a while, Valenti.”

**Author's Note:**

> this felt weirdly heavy for some reason, but thanks for reading <3


End file.
